ng was ruining his prospects
by neglecting to leave his card with this or that duchess who had sought
his acquaintance, he writes: "He attributes all this to very excessive
modesty, not dreaming that the empty intercourse of saloons with people
of rank and fashion could be a bore to one who has run the rounds of
society for the greater part of half a century, and who likes to consult
his own humor and pursuits."

When Irving reached Madrid, the affairs of the kingdom had assumed a
powerful dramatic interest, wanting in none of the romantic elements
that characterize the whole history of the peninsula. "The future career
[he writes of this gallant soldier, Espartero, whose merits and services
have placed him at the head of the government, and the future fortunes
of these isolated little princesses, the Queen and her sister], have an
uncertainty hanging about them worthy of the fifth act in a melodrama."
The drama continued, with constant shifting of scene, as long as Irving
remained in Spain, and gave to his diplomatic life intense interest, and
at times perilous excitement. His letters are full of animated pictures
of the changing progress of the play; and although they belong rather
to the gossip of history than to literary biography, they cannot be
altogether omitted. The duties which the minister had to perform were
unusual, delicate, and difficult; but I believe he acquitted himself of
them with the skill of a born diplomatist. When he went to Spain before,
in 1826, Ferdinand VII. was, by aid of French troops, on the throne, the
liberties of the kingdom were crushed, and her most enlightened men were
in exile. While he still resided there, in 1829, Ferdinand married,
for his fourth wife, Maria Christina, sister of the King of Naples, and
niece of the Queen of Louis Philippe. By her he had two daughters, his
only children. In order that his own progeny might succeed him, he set
aside the Salique law (which had been imposed by France) just before
his death, in 1833, and revived the old Spanish law of succession. His
eldest daughter, then three years old, was proclaimed Queen by the name
of Isabella II, and her mother guardian during her minority, which
would end at the age of fourteen. Don Carlos, the king's eldest
brother, immediately set up the standard of rebellion, supported by the
absolutist aristocracy, the monks, and a great part of the clergy. The
liberals rallied to the Queen. The Queen Regent did not, however